'Amen, in our Day...': The Development of a New Paragraph within the Grace after Meals / 'אמן בימינו...': התהוותה של פסקה חדשה בין ברכת ירושלים לברכת 'הטוב והמיטיב' בברכת המזון

In reciting the Grace after Meals one answers 'Amen' at the conclusion of the Benediction for Jerusalem, in both private and public settings. This custom was practiced as early as the Talmudic era, in both Eretz-Israel and Babylonia. In the Cairo-Genizah fragments we find that various appendages some as long as a full paragraph were attached after this 'Amen', between the Benediction for Jerusalem and the Benediction of ha-Tov veha-Metiv. This unusual development reflects, on the one hand, intense longing on the part of the Jewish communities for the redemption of Jerusalem, while at the same time it shows that the Benediction of Jerusalem was to some extent perceived as the end of the Grace after Meals, after which additional requests could be added. While rabbinic authorities objected to the expansion of the Benediction, the custom of adding prayers after the Benediction of Jerusalem persisted in many Jewish prayer rites.